Multiple Candidates In Uncontested Races Secure Official Wins

|Photo by Derek Redd| Shawn Turak, right, who ran uncontested for Ohio County prosecutor, talks with family friend Michael LaPorte, left, and LaPorte’s son Santino on Tuesday night following her victory.

While some races in the Northern Panhandle were contested Tuesday, a significant number of candidates had quiet, but successful nights. Those candidates face no opponents in Tuesday’s general election, knowing ahead of time that they had won.

State Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, is moving into his third term as a senator in District 1. The first district includes Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties in the north of the state, as well as the eastern part of Marshall County. Weld serves as the senate majority whip and chair of the senate military committee.

In his coming term, Weld hopes to continue work on legislation supporting veterans, access to treatment for those struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues and maintain a local presence and accessibility to his constituents.

However one of Weld’s top large-scale priorities is ensuring that the state is able to attract and retain employers by ensuring that it is a place people want to move and stay.

“We face different challenges here than other areas of the state,” Weld said of the first district being sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania. “So we have some pretty strong competition up here.”

Chris Rose defeated incumbent Sen. Mike Maroney in the primary for the District 2 seat and faced no competition in the general. Rose was a regional field director for the Tea Party and worked on campaigns for Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson and both the 2016 and 2020 campaigns for former President Donald Trump.

One of his priorities, Rose said, is to defend “West Virginian values” by maintaining coal, gas and oil jobs in the area.

This also means the state needs to “get the government out of the way and unleash American energy to combat inflation,” according to Rose.

Rose said one of the biggest issues facing the area is the loss of jobs and workforce. To aid in this, he said he hopes to lower state income taxes and pave the way for policies that do not stifle economic opportunity.

“That way we can create those jobs that keep our sons and daughters here at home and make West Virginia the best place to live, work and raise a family,” Rose said.

Shawn Turak, elected the new Ohio County prosecutor Tuesday, has spent more than 20 years as an assistant prosecutor and has been the chief assistant prosecutor for the past 10. She has over 550 felony convictions. Turak ran unopposed in a “vote of confidence” that she said she is very grateful for.

Turak said she will continue her monthly meetings with the Wheeling Police Department and that she looks forward to working closely with the next sheriff and the detective division.

She has also been attending as many of the monthly local crime watch meetings as she can and said she hopes this can increase her visibility and involvement with the community. She said she has connected with many citizens this way.

“Some of the groups are incredibly active and I really look forward to going to those, just listening to the concerns of our local citizens,” Turak said. “Others are not as active and I’d like to help figure out a way to make them more active, because at the heart of it, the prosecutor’s office is an office full of public servants and I take that role very seriously, I love it.”

Don Nickerson is stepping into his second term as Ohio County Commissioner. Nickerson, a practicing attorney and former 20-year municipal court judge in Wheeling, said two of his goals are continuing to increase responsiveness and open communication with the public, and maintaining a healthy budget.

“As a county commission we have a lot of responsibilities. But to me the budget and managing the county funds, managing your money if you’re an Ohio County resident, is probably the most important of the many many responsibilities we have that’s why it’s such a big priority to me,” Nickerson said.

In his first term Nickerson made commissioner meeting agendas and minutes available online, as well as keeping his personal phone number available publicly so that constituents can more easily get in contact with him.

“We’ve come a long way with transparency and responsiveness in my six years now that I’ve been on the commission and one of my goals for the next term is to make sure that continues,” he said.

Among the other Northern Panhandle winners in uncontested races Tuesday were:

Brooke County

Allison Cowden (R) for county prosecutor

Thomas Oughton (R) for county assessor

Robert Catlett for county magistrate

Hancock County

Pat McGeehan (R) for district 1 West Virginia house of delegates

Tommy Ogden (R) for county commissioner

Steven E. Dragisich (R) for county prosecutor

Joseph Alongi (D) for county assessor

Marshall County

Joe Canestraro (D) for county prosecutor

Michael “Mike” Dougherty (R) for county sheriff

Eric Buzzard (R) for county assessor

James Ruckman (R) for county surveyor

Ohio County

TIffany Hoffman (D) for county Assessor

Tyler County

Michael “Mike” Smith (R) for county commissioner

D. Luke Furbee (R) for county prosecutor

Dean Pratt (R) for county sheriff

Lisa Jackson (R) for county assessor

Roy D. Haught (R) for county surveyor

Wetzel County

Kelly Nelson (R) for county commissioner

Timothy E. Haught (D) for county prosecutor